October 17th, 2022
Mississippi Mills, Ontario
My dearest Deborah!
Thank-you for your note.
You’ve touched upon an undeniably heady subject; viz., frugality. While my late father and my sister (my only sibling) were/are provident, my late mother and I were by comparison profligate. The only thing that has lately dampened my prodigal behaviour is an exhaustion of my appetite for things. This is partly due to downsizing, basically getting rid of the tons of stuff one no longer needs or wants to take care of (much less insure). When we sold the house we jokingly insisted, “If it doesn’t go in the dishwasher, it’s out!” Secondly, when one gets to be my age (73) it is never certain when the bomb will go off. Accordingly the utility of getting new stuff rapidly diminishes. Finally there are very few (if indeed any) new things I wish to acquire. Least of them is real estate. We openly penalize real estate as a money pit and a hoodwinking. It is a conviction recently made more compelling by the storms and environmental changes.
Though a confessed voluptuary, material goods have never been an expression of status with me; rather they constitute an expression of art and metaphorical substance. When you mentioned the fluctuation of the market and its affect upon sales, it is a cycle applicable to the practice of law as well. What I believe is a more cogent tide in any business is the alteration of it because of the internet. People everywhere seemingly wish to do business from the privacy of their home; that is, without having to do so in person. I now find it exceedingly more convenient to buy what little clothes I need on-line not only because I can stay at home but because I can filter the precise size I wish to buy without either disappointment or accommodation. The narrative to which I have had some exposure is doing business of almost any nature on the internet with an unseen advocate located anywhere throughout the world (often in Asia). It will become a challenge for federal and provincial/state governments to control this burgeoning vernacular. In the matter of a last Will and Testament for example (or even something more exotic such as an Inter Vivos Trust Agreement or Shareholders’ Agreement) there is nothing illegal about a client choosing a document on-line and employing it (though without the professional liability insurance attached). Nor I venture to say is it assured that the quality of the documentation will be any worse than what local lawyers might produce. There is further the possibility that through the marvels of technology and its employment for thorough preliminary questions and answers, the resulting product may prove more acute than the office rendition.
Anyway, to get back to my “artistic” theme of materialism, it is a well-know adage in the art world that the last thing people traditionally buy when they have money to spare is art. The inhibition arises not so much from the economy as the prior exhaustion of perceived necessity (an eventuality we all will face in my opinion). As I mentioned to you previously one of my favoured artistic expressions is jewellery. That’s where the metaphor arises for me (for example the durability and allure of certain metals like gold and platinum). For over 50 years I have had custom made jewellery (in addition to the usual brand name stuff). I have always distinguished jewellery from paintings by observing that the jewellery is portable (which, given my current immobility is both meaningful and irrelevant).
There are decidedly thresholds beyond which spendthrift habits are damaging. If however one constrains certain of those erstwhile bad habits, the accumulation of funds can I believe be as precipitous as the former pattern of loss. Clearly I am no one to talk about money management. The succinct Barnum book is a far more instructive look at the matter. Paradoxically our familiarity with Longboat Key vitalized this book because it was Barnum who initially proposed the installation of certain vegetation (possibly the Australian Pine) which overtook the island and as recently as several years ago was the perpetual subject of removal.
There! That bit of expiation is off my mind! Sorry to be so tedious.
Cheers!
Billy